CEC in 2009: Intergenerational Partnership

22 December 2009 | News story

CEC members have developed a model for collaboration, exchange of ideas and experiences, and action between people of all ages. In 2009, CEC issued a report on the Buddy Experiment, the pilot test of a model that can be applied across all IUCN Commissions, called 'Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainabililty'.

Young people should be included in every aspect of the Union’s work, finds a CEC report on a pilot project that paired Commission members with young people in ‘intergenerational partnership for sustainability’ for the exchange of ideas and experience as well as active collaboration. In 2009, CEC secured support from all Commission Chairs for greater youth engagement, and facilitated agreement among IUCN Council members to appoint a young Councilor.

Buddy Experiment Report

Early in the year, the Commission issued a report of pilot-test findings for a “buddy experiment” that paired 80 young people with 80 members of CEC. Youth were invited from the Earth Charter Youth Initiative, Global Youth Action Network, TakingItGlobal, Peace Child International, Peace Child Peru, Youth Action for Change, and UNEP’s South Asia Youth Environment Network.

CEC members Frits Hesselink and Dominic Stucker planned and coordinated the experiment, in which they too were paired. The report found that this model for intergenerational partnership is of value and merits continuation in all IUCN Commissions.

Social networking

• Building on intergenerational Resolution 4.098, CEC member Dominic Stucker created Wikispace and Facebook resources for Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability (IPS), an effort to increase youth engagement in and through the IUCN. He also published a short article on the IUCN and Intergenerational Partnership for Sustainability in the October issue of the Soka Gakkai International Quarterly.

Young sustainability leaders

• CEC and WCPA appointed young people to their respective Steering Committees; Dominic Stucker and Svetlana Kopylova respectively. At their joint Commission meeting in Eduador in May, the two formed a Working Group on IPS, involving both CEC and WCPA members.
Books

• CEC member Dr. Astaman Kisee Maharjan worked with young people in Nepal to mark World Environment Day with the Youth Awareness Environmental Forum (YAEF), which broadcast speeches by 81 students from 45 schools over Environment Cycle Radio.

School projects

• CEC member Pranab Patar sought opportunities in other countries to expand GREEN Olympiad, an annual exam competition carried out by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in India.

• CEC member Subbalakshmi Kumar introduced CEC members to The International Climate Challenge Project, which encourages students aged 16 –20 in India, Kenya and the United Kingdom to take action to mitigate climate change.

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